Originally Posted by
Scoop
There have been a lot of posts about single engine taxi and APU but I have not seen anyone inquire about our ground air. A couple of points:
1. It should be automatic - we should not have to ask.
2. If the guys hook the hose up with 17 kinks - call and ask them to fix it. If we keep fixing it they will never bother to do it right.
3. Who maintains our A/C units - The Marx brothers? Why is it that they so often do not work? Its not like A/C being about 100 years old could still be considered cutting edge technology. It seems far too many of our gates lack working power and air. I wonder how often the A/C does not work on the 4th floor?
Scoop
Showed up to an airplane (A320) in ATL yesterday that had the APU on MEL. No air had been connected (airplane had arrived at gate 1/2 hour prior to us getting there), and the external power at some point had been disconnected by the ground crew, leaving the airplane powered by the batteries.
Once we were able to find a couple of ground crew to come out and plug us back in with power, I walked down to the ramp to find them looking around at the belly of the airplane trying to find out where the connection point was for the external air.
Really??? Once I showed them where the receptacle door was located, one of them looked at the receptacle and since it didn't look familiar to him, he said he didn't think the air hose from the jetway would connect. I assured him it would, and after another few minutes we finally had air on the plane.
So the Airbus is still somewhat new to ATL (not really), but seeing as how it's a major hub and with all the focus on "Project APU", how can there still be ground crews that have no idea how or where to connect air to the airplane?
